Sometimes I make Gizmos to solve a search problem or explore a resource. And sometimes I make them because I’m trying to learn something and I’m proving to myself that I know what I’m doing. (Sort of.) The Wikipedia GenderScanner is one of the latter; I’m goofing around with fetch and figuring out how to use an external library for the first time. This gizmo sketch is a little rough but still fun to play with. You can find it at  https://researchbuzz.github.io/Wikipedia-Gender-Scanner/ .

The WGS does just what it says on the tin: takes the category you specify and evaluates the gender of the first 50 pages in that category. Category names start with Category: and are found in Wikipedia URLs, like so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Textile_artists .

I’m going to copy the Category:Textile_artists part of that URL, paste it into the WGS, and click the Scan the Category button. You will get a list of the genders in that category based on a set of six: male, female, transman, transwoman, intersex, and non-binary.  (Please note those are Wikipedia’s gender determinations, not mine, so please address any complaints their way.)

Thanks to me wanting to learn external libraries, there’s also a little chart breaking down this information from Google Charts. (Though I’m not sure I learned much more than “know very seriously where the parameters are and then tweak the example code”.)

What happens if you try to use WGS with a Wikipedia category that has no actual people in it? Nothing, it just doesn’t respond. (I told you it was rough.) It will warn you if you put in something that’s not a category.

I told my husband that every time I figure out how to do something it’s like I’ve unlocked a new JavaScript puzzle piece. I’m sure the particular pieces I earned here will be appearing very shortly in some new projects, especially something ooky-spooky I’m putting together for Halloween.

(Okay, it’s not THAT ooky-spooky. But it is for Halloween. Stay tuned.)